Page 57 of Deserving Cora
The more he thought about it, the more Pipe loved the idea. Of course, just because he liked it didn’t mean Cora would. Too many people in her life had said the right words, but when push came to shove, they’d turned their backs on her. He’d have to show herwithoutwords that he was serious about what was developing between them.
And he’d start doing that by finding Lara and reuniting the best friends. Afterward? He’d have to take things one day at a time. But he knew something for certain…even though he’d drawn the short straw and hadn’t wanted to go, attending that auction was the best thing that he’d ever done in his life. It had led him straight to Cora.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Cora woke in the morning to Pipe kissing her forehead. He was standing at the side of the bed, leaning over, his arms caging her in.
“Good morning.”
“Morning,” she mumbled.
“We need to get up and get ready to go.”
“Okay.”
He smiled. “You awake?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“Uh-huh.”
His grin grew. “Right. I’ll start the coffee. If I don’t hear the water running in three minutes, I won’t let you have any of the special black cherry brew that I’m gonna make.”
“Mean,” Cora grumbled.
In response, Pipe leaned down and kissed her on the lips this time. “Get up,” he repeated, then stood and headed for the door. Cora couldn’t help but admire his ass as he went.
It was then that she realized he wasn’t wearing anything but a pair of boxers. She should’ve felt embarrassed or shy or something, but instead she felt…mellow.
At the door, Pipe turned. “Cora?”
“Yeah?”
“Slept better last night than I can remember sleeping in a very long time.” He grinned at her. “Three minutes.”
Then he was gone.
Cora sighed and closed her eyes as she stretched. She’d also slept like a rock. Well, after her nightmare, that was. She hated the dreams she still had occasionally. She’d tried really hard to put her past behind her, but there were times her brain still liked to dredge up her crappy childhood, as if to remind her that things can always go bad—or get worse.
The second Pipe’s arms had wrapped around her last night, she’d felt safe. Safe from the horrors of her childhood, from the taunts of other kids about her lack of a family, from the fear of being homeless, from all of it.
“Two and a half minutes!” Pipe called from down the hall in his room.
Cora couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her lips. It was hard to believe she was finding anything humorous right now, considering what lay ahead of her and the others later in the day, but she did.
“I’m going!” she called back as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and headed for the bathroom. Instead of dwelling on her nightmare, or the fact that Pipe had spent the night in her bed, holding her tightly, she let the tiniest bit of excitement flow through her veins. She’d been doing everything in her power to get to this moment, to find out what was really happening with Lara. And today it was happening. The police might not believe her, or Lara’s parents, but she was more certain than ever, especially after everything that Tex guy had found out, that Lara was being held against her will.
All she needed to do was get to her, get Lara to admit that she wanted to go home, and they were out of there. Ridge wouldn’t be able to stop them, not with Pipe, Owl, and Stone at her back.
Cora grit her teeth in determination. She wasn’t leaving Arizona without Lara. Whatever it took, she’d make sure her friend was safe.
* * *
Hours later, Cora’s determination had waned a bit and nervousness had taken its place. The flight had gone without any issues and the four of them had rented a Jeep Wrangler. They were now parked on the street, a ways from Ridge Michaels’s mansion.
“So I reallyamjust going to go up and knock on the door?” Cora asked nervously.
